BBC NEWS | Africa | Sudan bars Darfur atrocity probe

BBC NEWS | Africa | Sudan bars Darfur atrocity probe: "udan's government says it will not allow international investigators into the troubled province of Darfur to collect evidence on alleged war crimes.

The ban comes as the chief prosecutor from the International Criminal Court told the UN Security Council that he wanted more co-operation from Sudan.

Luis Moreno Ocampo said he had identified mass killings and rape but had not decided who to prosecute.

Some two million people have fled their homes in the three-year Darfur war.

Sudan's Justice Minister Muhammad Ali al-Mardi told the BBC that the ICC had no jurisdiction to try Sudanese nationals.

'We have the national law authority... The government is willing and able to try to these cases,' he said."

Bees Can Recognize Human Faces

Bees can recognize human faces, study finds
"Honeybees may look pretty much all alike to us. But it seems we may not look all alike to them. A study has found that they can learn to recognize human faces in photos, and remember them for at least two days.

A honeybee inspects a photograph of a face in preparation for a landing. (Courtesy the Journal of Experimental Biology)
The findings toss new uncertainty into a long-studied question that some scientists considered largely settled, the researchers say: how humans themselves recognize faces.

The results also may help lead to better face-recognition software, developed through study of the insect brain, the scientists added.

Many researchers traditionally believed facial recognition required a large brain, and possibly a specialized area of that organ dedicated to processing face information. The bee finding casts doubt on that, said Adrian G. Dyer, the lead researcher in the study.

He recalls that when he made the discovery, it startled him so much that he called out to a colleague, telling her to come quickly because “no one’s going to believe it—and bring a camera!”"
http://www.world-science.net/exclusives/exclusives-nfrm/051209_bees.htm

The secret of 'muscular' old age

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4502862.stm

Scientists believe they have found a way to enable the elderly to maintain muscle.

Muscle is constantly being built and broken down, which works to maintain a balance in young adults.

But as people age, the breakdown process is more successful than the muscle-building action.

However French researchers, writing in the Journal of Physiology, say adding the amino acid leucine to old people's diets could help them keep muscle.

UK experts agree, saying the best way to boost leucine levels is to eat meat.

WSJ.com - Americans Feel More Isolated Less Empowered, Poll Shows

WSJ.com - Americans Feel More Isolated Less Empowered, Poll Shows: "Americans feel significantly more alienated this year, according to a recent Harris Interactive poll, with three-quarters of U.S. adults saying they feel the 'rich get richer and the poor get poorer,' up from 68% in 2004.
The poll, which at this time each year since 1966 has been tracking replies to five questions designed to measure feelings of powerlessness and isolation in the U.S., also shows an increase in other measures of alienation.
RELATED CHART


� Tracking Alienation Since 1972

About 60% of those surveyed in the nationwide telephone poll of 1,011 adults believe that 'most people with power try to take advantage of people like you,' up sharply from 53% in 2004. More than half of those polled say they tend to feel 'people running the country don't really care what happens' to them, up from 44% last year.
Additionally, 74% feel that 'the people in Washington are out of touch with the rest of the country,' up from 67% in 2004 and at its highest level since 1998.
The level of alienation varies greatly in different segments of the population. The highest levels of alienation are found among people with household incomes of $15,000 or less, Democrats and African Americans.
The lowest levels of alienation are found among Republicans, college graduates and people with incomes over $75,000"

Guarding Girls Schools Not for Sissies

Guarding Girls Schools Not for Sissies: "RIYADH, 10 December 2005 — In some countries, mining is the most difficult job. In other countries crab fishing is the worst. In Saudi Arabia, being a girls-school gate guard is considered one of the most difficult and worst jobs: It brings a lot of suffering for a little pay.

Being a girls-school gate guard in Saudi Arabia is different than in other countries because of cultural and religious customs.

When people picture a girls-school gate guard here, they see an old man with a white beard. After all, to be a gate guard at a girls school you must be over 40, married, and accompanied by your wife who must work at the same school. You live with your wife in a cramped efficiency apartment on the grounds of the school."

The World's Most Populous Countries

Check out this link : http://www.odt.org/Pictures/poplcart.jpg for a resizing of the world according to population density...

Laughing bike 

Cool Hunting: Laughing Bike

This is a cool idea. I have also heard that someone from Holland has invented an ipod recharger based upon biking...

Cool Hunting: Laughing Bike: "Another highlight from the Basel weekend (yes, updates are still coming) was Soundbike, an art project by Jessica Thompson. Basically, a fleet of bikes was outfitted to emit laughter when the rider pedals. The faster the pedaling, the louder and more hysterical the laughter. In addition to being a lot of fun, I though her piece was a perfect little statement on the art consumption frenzy that was Art Basel."

Reform: Not Ignorant, Not Helpless - Newsweek World News - MSNBC.com

Reform: Not Ignorant, Not Helpless - Newsweek World News - MSNBC.com: "Dec. 12, 2005 issue - If I'd never known a Muslim woman, I'd probably pity any female born into Islam. In America we've come to see these women as timid creatures, covered from head to toe, who scurry rather than walk. They have no voices, no rights and no place outside the home. But I grew up around secular Muslims (my father was an Iraqi Shiite) in Los Angeles, stayed with ultrareligious relatives in Baghdad and met dozens more Muslim women on travels through the Middle East. I've watched them argue politics with men at the dinner table in Baghdad, slap husbands on the back of the head for telling off-color jokes in Egypt and, at a recent Arab Women's Media Conference in Amman, fiercely debate their notions of democracy from under higabs and J. Lo-inspired hairdos."

The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Microsoft to invest $1.7 billion, add 3,000 jobs in India, Gates says

The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Microsoft to invest $1.7 billion, add 3,000 jobs in India, Gates says: "NEW DELHI – Microsoft Corp. plans to invest $1.7 billion in India and add 3,000 jobs in the country over the next four years, nearly doubling the world's largest software company's work force here, Chairman Bill Gates said today.

Microsoft has long viewed India, a country of 1 billion people with a robust economy, as a potentially huge market, and the investment would be one of the single largest by an information technology company in India."..

ndian Information Technology Minister Dayanidhi Maran said the planned investment was "an indicator of the value that Microsoft attaches to its development and R&D activities in the country."

Gates' announcement was the latest in a string of recently announced investments in India by American technology firms.

On Monday, chip-maker Intel Corp., based in Santa Clara, Calif., said it planned to invest more than $1 billion in the next five years to expand its operations in India and invest in local technology companies.

Cisco Systems Inc., based in San Jose, Calif., said in October that it plans to spend $1.1 billion in India over the next three years...

Read all about it -- oh, you already have: Seattle is most literate city

Read all about it -- oh, you already have: Seattle is most literate city: " BOOKS

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Read all about it -- oh, you already have: Seattle is most literate city

By KRISTIN DIZON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Frasier would be so proud. Or, maybe, upon hearing that Seattle has just been deemed the 'most literate' city in the country, he'd just say, 'Obviously.'

Or, as the study's author, Dr. John Miller, president of Central Connecticut State University, put it: 'It's not like winning the Super Bowl, but. ...' (Not to jinx our chances.)

This is the third year Miller has come up with his 'America's Most Literate Cities' ranking, which is based on the resources and behaviors of citizens in the 69 largest American cities."

Judge Orders Porn Thief To Go Blind

Judge Orders Porn Thief To Go Blind : "A teenager was told to sit blindfolded outside a porn shop he stole from by an American judge who has found fame for his creative sentences.

Judge Mike Cicconetti also ordered the 18-year-old to carry a sign saying 'see no evil'.

The ruling is among a series of wacky punishments which are an alternative to prison and designed the fit to crime....

During recent heavy blizzards, he ordered defendants - who can choose jail or the alternative justice - to clear snow.

He told The Times: "What could be better than shovelling snow for senior citizens?

"Do we serve the community better like that or by putting someone in jail at a cost of $70 (£45) a day?"

He added: "People will say the punishments are cruel and unusual, but what is cruel and unusual punishment? Is it a little bit of embarrassment and humiliation?"

One man caught with a loaded gun was sent to a morgue to see dead bodies while a woman who abandoned 35 kittens in a forest was told to spend a night in the woods.

A defendant who called a police officer a pig spent two hours inside a pen with a pig, complete with a sign saying: 'This is not a police officer.'

Meanwhile, two teenagers who scrawled 666 on a nativity figure of Jesus also got a taste of the judge's justice.

They had to lead a donkey through the streets, with a sign saying: 'Sorry for the jackass offence.'"

Wired News: The Digital Audiophile's Toolbox

Wired News: The Digital Audiophile's Toolbox: "So you want to be an audiophile? Great, but you need to realize this is an elite designation and that joining the ranks will take work. The key is having the right tools, and not all of those listed here are easy to figure out, at least not the first time you use them.

First, let us pause for two major caveats, as this article examines only software for producing high-quality, portable (as in put them on your iPod) digital recordings. This is no doubt sacrilege to bona fide audiophiles, for whom analog still rules supreme. (See the second part of this special report, 'Hi-Fi, Meet the IPod,' for a closer look at this issue and how new technologies may one day bridge the gap.)"

Google: Ten Golden Rules - Issues 2006 - MSNBC.com

Google: Ten Golden Rules - Issues 2006 - MSNBC.com: "ssues 2006 - At google, we think business guru Peter Drucker well understood how to manage the new breed of 'knowledge workers.' After all, Drucker invented the term in 1959. He says knowledge workers believe they are paid to be effective, not to work 9 to 5, and that smart businesses will 'strip away everything that gets in their knowledge workers' way.' Those that succeed will attract the best performers, securing 'the single biggest factor for competitive advantage in the next 25 years.'"

BBC NEWS | Europe | Crystal joins Cross and Crescent

BBC NEWS | Europe | Crystal joins Cross and Crescent: "diamond-shaped red crystal on a white background is to join the Red Cross and the Red Crescent as an emblem for ambulances and relief workers.

Geneva Convention member states voted by a two-thirds majority for the symbol, ending a decades-old row and opens the way for Israel to join."

Better Bananas, Nicer Mosquitoes - New York Times

Better Bananas, Nicer Mosquitoes - New York Times: "EATTLE - Addressing 275 of the world's most brilliant scientists, Bill Gates cracked a joke:

'I've been applying my imagination to the synergies of this,' he said. 'We could have sorghum that cures latent tuberculosis. We could have mosquitoes that spread vitamin A. And most important, we could have bananas that never need to be kept cold.'

They laughed. Perhaps that was to be expected when the world's richest man, who had just promised them $450 million, was delivering a punchline. But it was also germane, because they were gathered to celebrate some of the oddest-sounding projects in the history of science."...

What Mr. Gates had outlined at Davos were the greatest obstacles facing doctors in the tropics: Laboratories are few and far between. Vaccines spoil without refrigeration and require syringes, which can transmit AIDS. Mosquitoes develop resistance to all insecticides. Crops that survive in the jungle or desert often have little nutritive value. Infections outwit powerful drugs by lying dormant.

His offer - originally $200 million, raised to $450 million after 1,600 proposals came in - "was to make sure that innovation wasn't reserved just for big-ticket items like cancer and heart disease," said Dr. Carol A. Dahl, the foundation's director of global health technologies, who ran the conference.

Pickled Politics � Darling, a cross is just so pass�, I want a crystal!

An entertaining history of the RED CROSS and RED CRESCENT symbols...

Pickled Politics � Darling, a cross is just so pass�, I want a crystal!: "Representatives from all 192 countries that signed the Geneva Conventions are discussing the merits of a new, third emblem for the Red Cross. "...

The Red Cross works by having a national version of the organisation in each country. Here we have the British Red Cross, but in 31 of the 181 recognised societies around the world, the national body is called the Red Crescent. The Crescent actually dates back to the Russo-Turkish War (1876-1878), when the Ottoman Empire thought that the cross would alienate its Muslim soldiers. In 1877, Russia became the first country to state that they would recognise the Red Crescent as exactly equivalent to the Red Cross. The ICRC declared that non-Muslim countries would be able to adapt the crescent and be entitled to exactly the same protection and neutrality the cross conferred. ...

At present, the red cross and the red crescent are the only two recognised emblems that ensure that anyone or anything carrying them is protected by international law, as stipulated in the Geneva Conventions. They must be granted free access to areas where people are in need of help.

So the crescent has been around for yonks. I felt less bothered by it, but still somewhat peeved as the whole objection to the cross was a misnomer. The Red Cross was never a Christian organisation, the emblem is simply a reversal of the Swiss flag, which is a white cross on a red back. It was chosen to honour the Swiss founder, Henry Dunant.

However, one country remained stubborn. Israel. And here’s where it all gets sticky....

Save Darfur.org ::

Save Darfur.org ::: "National Call-In Day for Darfur - Tuesday, Dec. 6
After the success of the last National Call-In Day for Darfur, we hope that you will join us in picking up the phone once again this Tuesday, December 6, as we work to convince Congress that they should include vital funding for African Union peacekeeping troops in the final version of the Defense spending bill currently being negotiated. Please call your Representative and your two Senators and make your voice heard on this incredibly important issue. Click here for more information on how to call and what to say, and thank you for your help in stopping the genocide in Darfur."

Sleepless in Sudan. Uncensored, direct from a dazed & confused aid worker in Darfur, Sudan

Today is national call-in day for Darfur. For more on how you can help the situation in Darfur from Sleepless in Sudan...

Sleepless in Sudan. Uncensored, direct from a dazed & confused aid worker in Darfur, Sudan: "I've been ranting a lot over the past few days, and I thought it was about time I posted something useful again. I've finally had the chance to plough through most of my blog emails over the weekend, and am somewhat overwhelmed by the feedback that everyone has been sending.

Above all, everyone seems to be wondering 'What can I do to help the people of Darfur?'

So I thought I'd post a few suggestions:"

Indian May Lose Eye for Blinding Saudi During Fight

Indian May Lose Eye for Blinding Saudi During Fight: "RIYADH, 6 December 2005 � An expatriate worker jailed in Dammam for partially blinding a Saudi national in a fight may lose one eye by court order.
Abdul Lateef Naushad, 34, from the south Indian state of Kerala, got into a fight with a Saudi and injured the Saudi�s eye. The Saudi reportedly lost the sight in that eye several weeks later.
The incident happened in 2003. The case has now been referred to the appeals court in Riyadh for final review."